


Ring Tails

by Gamifly



Category: Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Genre: Fandom, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 13:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14356938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamifly/pseuds/Gamifly
Summary: Twice Ruddiger needed Varian's help and once he had to give it.Others didn't understand what bonded the raccoon to its owner, just that Ruddiger proved to be the most loyal creature they'd ever seen.This is that story.





	Ring Tails

Their story began one early spring’s night. Old Corona was silent, and the only light seen was from the smattering of candles through some of the cottage windows. The largest house in town had only one light source and that was in the basement where the resident ‘wizard’ spent most of his time.

Varian, a young boy who was only just entering his teenage years. Having only turned thirteen a couple of days prior, was toiling away at his craft. Many who didn’t know what that craft was, merely wrote it off as some sort of witchcraft. However, the teen would scoff and correct all who thought this; that it wasn’t merely ‘witchcraft’, but science, alchemy to be exact.

Now Varian was fast making a name for himself as being, well, destructive. A fact his father, Quirin was trying to remedy to no avail. At least the kid was only trying to help, that was what he’d keep telling himself.

That night however, Varian was trying to create a better source of light that would replace regular candles and would glow forever. And was having a bit of trouble.

A loud crash could be heard coming from his basement dwelling as he tried to suffocate a small fire he had cause with one of the many steel pots scattered about.

“No no no, shhh…please stop!” his shaky voice pleaded with the fire as he lent all his weight over his bench to press down on the pot.

He waited a couple of moments in silence and then gradually lifted the pot up to see no bluish flames anymore, only a very black looking tablecloth and let out a sigh of relief.

“Varian!” Quirin called from the other room, causing his son to wince at the tone. He knew he’d woken his father up.

“Y-yeah Dad?” he questioned back, trying to subtly fan out some smoke through the nearby window.

“I thought I told you to go to bed!” he yelled sternly, then suddenly a candle was lit and Varian could finally make out his Dad’s imposing form carrying said candle near his head.

Varian quickly shuffled to stand in front of his bench to block the view of the now ruined tablecloth and looked sheepishly up at Quirin.

“Yes, I know. About that! I was getting ready for bed when it suddenly came to me!” he gestured loudly causing his father to let out a sigh. Pinching the bridge of his nose as his son kept talking.

“You know how we have to keep lighting candles and how they seem to run out of wax really easy-And and torches! How we need loads of lantern fluid?” he gushed in one breath, excited to tell his father his idea.

Quirin sighed again, “Varian-“

“I then asked myself, what if we just made a light source that never ran out of fuel? Now harnessing light is impossible,” he shook his head to himself, mop of black hair sweeping across his face, “But if I’m able to mix the correct chemicals together, they may make some form of reaction.”

“Varian” Quirin tried again, only for the teen to continue his rambling.

“It- it could maybe make a sort of glow when mixed that won’t ever fade,” he was talking to himself now, an epiphany forming in his brain, “like if you shake it, it will gradually glow…” he cut off, turning away from his father to access his notes.

“Varian, listen…”

“What two chemicals, when mixed, make a bright substance?” he shuffled through his notes. When he’d finally come across a substance he’s dubbed _fluorescence_ a large gloved hand came down on top of his, halting whatever thought he was about to have.

He looked up into his father’s face and took note of the large disapproving frown that marred his face, the scar near his eye more prominent than ever under the candlelight.

“Varian, it’s late and I can’t keep being woken up by your…experiments,” he paused, looking around the trashed basement turned laboratory when he eventually turned his gaze back towards his son, “you understand that, right?”

“But I’ve just discovered something brilliant that’ll make my hypothesis work!” the teen complained, half annoyed by the interruption and half disappointed in his father’s lack of faith.

“You can work on it tomorrow,” Quirin reasoned, goodness knows what’ll be on fire the next day. At least he may be able to prevent any other ‘accidents’ tonight from occurring.

“But, Dad…” the young alchemist whined, trying to widen his eyes further to make his dad see reason. His puppy-dog pout was the best in town, something he’d perfected to a fine art.

That night, however, it seemed not to work as Quirin’s frown deepened.

“But nothing, Varian. It’s late and I need your help tomorrow with the orchards before summer hits.”

“If we used my invention it would had gone quicker,” the kid mumbled unhappily, looking down at the floor while trying not to fiddle with anything.

“Tell that to Mrs Fletcher who you almost ran over with that blasted contraption of yours,” his father reminded causing Varian to wince in remembrance. Sighing he continued, “If you help me finish with the next batch of fruit you can have the rest of the day for this, magic stuff, okay?”

This time it was Varian’s turn to sigh.

“Alchemy, Dad,” he corrected exasperatedly, “Science, not witchcraft,” when he saw his father roll his eyes he nodded in agreement before another argument could breakout, “But okay then! I’ll go to bed now,” he smiled up at Quirin’s face, shakily, “h-hopefully I’ll remember everything tomorrow!”

He went to go walk out of the basement when he suddenly remembered something. Running back to the bench he’d been working on Varian untied his apron and slipped it over his head to hang it over the chair nearby, then took off his goggles and his heat-proof gloves and placed them carefully on the bench.

Grinning up at his father once more, now feeling slightly naked without his protective equipment on, the young teen ran out of the room eager to start the next day a quick as possible. Quirin merely shook his head at his son antics then made his way out of the basement as well.

 

* * *

 

 

It was nearly one o’clock when Varian was woken by a soft whining sound outside his window.

He tried to turn over and ignore it, but the whining got louder gradually until he couldn’t ignore it anymore and shoved the blankets off his body and got begrudgingly up.

Still half asleep, he stumbled blindly out the bedroom towards the front door. His hands managed to find a lantern nearby and by the time he’d almost managed to burn himself twice trying to light it he had finally managed to wake up fully. Shuffling his boots on half-way he carefully opened the front door, not wanting to wake his father once more and closed it silently behind him.

He waited a moment, so he could hear the noise once more then followed it to a couple of bushes outside the window in his bedroom. The whinging sound became louder as he came closer and now Varian realised it sounded like an animal.

Slowly he moved some leaves out of the way to find a small black and grey creature shivering, large black eyes gazing fearfully up at him. It was heartbreaking.

“Hey little guy,” he knelt calmly, started to reach towards the creature only for it to try backing out of range, but stopped suddenly when it yelped in pain. Varian winced.

“Hey hey, i-it’s okay!” he put the lantern down on the grass beside him to use both hands to plead with the animal, “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

He waited with both hands outstretched for the creature to calm down. It took a while, staring straight at him scared until what felt like years when it finally peered around to see whether there was any other way to escape. When Varian still didn’t move, the creature gazed back up at him, finally seeing that he wasn’t a threat and started to shuffle forward, nose sniffing as it went.

The young alchemist noticed the little thing was limping slightly as it came forward on it’s hind legs and frowned slightly at the state it was in. He carefully brushed a couple fingers through it’s fur in comfort, half for the creature and half for himself and what he now needed to do.

“Come on, now,” he gently cupped it in his hand and grabbed the lantern with his other, resting the creature against his chest, “time to get you inside so I can fix that leg of yours!”

* * *

 That proved to be more difficult than Varian had anticipated because as soon as he set the little thing on his bed he realised it was bleeding. It was only a little drip, but it was enough to send the teen into a frenzy seeing as he hated the sight of the stuff.

“Ohhh…k, this is…fine! Totally fine!” he said to himself as he paced the span of his room in quick succession, trying not to faint, the creature following his movements with its eyes.

It somehow noticed the kids distress and let out a low whine to snap him out of it, causing Varian to look at it.

And see the minor gash on its back leg and wince in disgust once again. However, this time it was different as he sucked in a large breath then released it, a look of determination forming on his face.

“Ok, first, I need to figure out what you are,” he came closer to the creature, a weird pair of tongs in his hand from out of nowhere then placed it gently on its head and turned it to and fro, the creature doing anything it could to not jump at the erratic behaviour. It just continued to stare at the kid fearfully until he finished, whatever he was doing.

It felt a hand poke its side, “Hmm, not too thin.”

A slight pull of back fur, “Long fur, definitely a mammal of some type.”

A grab of one of its front paw, “Interesting, almost hand like,” a turn of said paw, “and thumbs too, hmm.”

A careful grab of the muzzle, pulled open, “Sharp canines, meat eater?”

Eventually Varian knelt in front of the creature to gaze in its eyes, then turned the lantern down, almost off and continued to gaze at it until it blinked, and he smiled.

“Definitely nocturnal. Wouldn’t have been able to adjust with no light otherwise,” he placed a hand on his chin in thought, “I think I know what you are, I just,” the creature suddenly brought its little tail forward to cover itself, “ah ha! A ring-tail!”

He suddenly jumped up from his position to a large book on his shelf and began flipping through it, the creature tilted its head, now more curious than fearful.

“If I know my nocturnal animals, and I do,” he flipped a page, “then you must be,” another, “a,” another, “there! A Raccoon! Or _Procyon_ if we wanna get technical,” he slammed the book close and placed it back on the shelf, then made his way back to the now dubbed Raccoon.

“So, judging by your size,” he grabbed its tail lightly, “I would say you are only a couple weeks, maybe a month old,” he suddenly picked it up and held it in his arms, “only a baby!” a sensation was felt through his shirt and when he pulled the Raccoon away he found a big wet spot where it had sat, “a baby _boy_ at that,” he finished wryly.

Shaking off the disgust he was feeling, Varian lifted it higher so he could look closely at the cut on its leg.

”Hey, it doesn’t look too serious! Only a scratch! Should only take a bit to fix,” he stated matter-of-factly then place the young creature down on his bed once more.

”I won’t be a moment! Wait here,” he instructed before running out the door towards the kitchen to grab a jug of water, a cloth and some bandages.

When he got back to his room he found the raccoon licking the spot and paniked suddenly.

”No no, don’t do that!” The creature looked back at him with wide eyes as it put its leg back down confused.

”It could get infected, alright?” He explained as he dipped the cloth into the jug and rung it out.

He saw the raccoon nod and was slightly taken aback at its intelligence. Shaking it off however, the alchemist carefully started clean the wound, wincing at the sight.

The young raccoon let out a loud yelp at the pain, but quickly calmed down after a couple of seconds.

Varian then grabbed the bandages and started to tie the cut up. Once it was tightly bound the teen let out a relieved sigh.

”There we are, little guy, good as new! Now we just wait for it to heal,” then an afterthought came, “let’s just hope my dad doesn’t take notice of you.”

 

* * *

  

A week or so had gone by and the little Raccoon was fully recovered from the cut on its leg and had unfortunately become a little too comfortable because it was now going through its ‘playful’ phase.

Varian had found that the creature was highly intelligent, understanding where food came from and what he rambled about most of the time. Problem was, he got into everything.

“Varian!” his father called out from the front door causing the teen in question to run to the commotion.

“Y-yeah, dad?” a half-chewed boot was thrust into his face suddenly, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

“This is the third pair of shoes that, rat of yours, has gone through this week, Varian!” he shouted, waving the mattered boot around.

“R-raccoon, dad.”

“I don’t care what it is, but it has definitely healed and frankly, it has to go!” Quirin threw the boot on the pile of bitten shoes, mostly left boots to be exact and stormed outside.

“But, dad! He likes it here and I can’t just…kick him out!” Varian followed him out, pleading with his father.

He was becoming quite attached to the little guy and was honestly hoping to keep him, having come up with a name for him as well.

“Varian, it’s a wild animal, they aren’t supposed to be house pets!”

“I could train him to be! He could be my responsibility!”

“No, Varian! It’s time he goes to be with his own kind,”

“But he likes our kind too!”

“How will you be able to train a Raccoon and practise your science stuff at the same time?” that caused Varian to pause suddenly. There was no way he’d be able to look after a young and boisterous Raccoon and study alchemy at the same time. He’d already missed out on a lot of experiments due to chasing the little guy around all the time.

He knew his dad didn’t wanted him to do either, but here he was giving him a choice. The raccoon or alchemy. He knew the answer he had to choose, that didn’t mean he’d like it.

He looked over to a patch of grass the raccoon was playing in and sighed.

“Okay, dad. I-I’ll say goodbye to him.”

“Thank-you son, and I’m sorry. I know you care deeply for him,” Quirin placed a comforting hand on his shoulder then went to go pack up his wagon for travel.

“O-okay, little guy,” he gently put the raccoon on the ground in front of him, “it’s time for you to find somewhere else to stay from now on okay?”

The raccoon, not understanding what he was saying, went to run back inside. Luckily Varian stopped him before he went too far.

“No no, you can’t go back there anymore,” the teen said lightly pushing the raccoon towards the nearby forest. The creature looked up into Varian’s blue eyes, trying to understand what he meant. It was tearing the boy up inside, but he knew this was the right thing to do.

“Yes, that’s right! That’s where you belong,” he pointed, allowing the raccoon to following his pointing.

The raccoon let out a soft chirp and patted both hands on the boy’s knees causing him to reach out and lightly rub his head.

“I know you understand me, buddy,” he looked away, “d-don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

The creature suddenly climbed into the alchemist’s lap and threw its little arms around his head in a hug. Varian returned the hug while letting out a little laugh.

“I’ll miss you too,” he let the kit go and it walked off his knees. He patted the boys lap once then started to run off, but paused midway.

He glanced up at Varian once more and waved before scattering into the woods and out of sight. The alchemist watched him go, a deep sadness overtaking him.

“Bye.”

Little did he know that that raccoon had a lot more plans for him in store. 

**Author's Note:**

> In the hope to create more Ruddiger love I decided to create a bit of an origin story. As you all know, this won't end happily, but I want to make some more happier moments y'know? Let me know what you think!
> 
> Also please note that there is a reason Ruddiger needs to leave and a reason him and Varian aren't as close yet. I mean, the events of 'What the hair?' need to occur yet, right?
> 
> The next chapter will be half Ruddiger's point of view and half Varian's.


End file.
